The above photo was taken about 4 minutes after he was born. As long as it took for me to remind Mik that he needed to grab the camera and get the first shots!

These next pics were taken on day 3. The first time he really spent any time with his eyes open. He was a sleepy little tacker! OK, he still is... I must say I'm blessed!

And my favourite pic from that day...

Fionn has settled beautifully into the household routine. All of the children absolutely adore their little brother and any worries I had about acceptance have been totally squashed. I have plenty of helpers (the novelty still hasn't worn off!) and they all fight over who gets to hold him next. He really is such a beautiful baby, who WOULDN'T fight to get a hold!?!?!

I'll work on the whole birth story soon. It was a pretty funny day! More soon...

04 December 2007

First of all, thank you to EVERYONE for your lovely messages and congrats! I will admit it was a bit of a surprise, and more of a surprise that it's yet another boy!! But we are all really happy and can't wait until he arrives (I don't know what is worse though, me having to go through the not sleeping thing for around another 140 sleeps, or Maeve asking 5 times a day how many more sleeps until the baby is born!??!).

But, today's excitement? My new nappy bag is here!!!!! I have coveted one of these since Elsie bought one in Europe last year (she uses hers as a normal handbag though). When I found out I was pregnant, I KNEW that it was the nappy bag I wanted!!! After a huge search, and the discovery that they are old season and really hard to get, I tracked them down on Ebay. I was debating over the pink vs blue, but the decision was made when I was too late to bid on the pink. So blue it was! And wouldn't you know it, so was the baby!!!

So for those of you with a ridiculous bag fettish like me, here it is...

29 November 2007

21 October 2007

I am sure I took more than these, but I can't find them right now. But my kids found them fun to look at anyway!

Life sized Bionicle made from Lego. At Hamley's in London (you shoulda seen Mik's face when he saw this place! Six floors of pure childish pleasure!!).

More Bionicles. Which I will add I am glad to live in Australia where they are so much cheaper than in the UK! They were the same amount in pounds as they are in dollars, before conversion! Crazy prices!!!

And finally, Mik spotted this one. A small road off Rue de Rivoli. Too funny! I had hoped to see platform 9 3/4 when I was in London, but I got my stations mixed up and was at the wrong one! Not enough time to go to the right place and get the shot. Apparently there IS a platform sign there now, just for crazy tourists like me. Maybe next time!

20 October 2007

Slowly getting through my favourites in the 1000+ photos that I took!!! Totally crazy number I know, but lots of fun at the same time!!

This statue moved me, the image of father and child. At Versailles.

Beautiful gardens at Versailles.

They have the most intricate and weird statues at Versailles. I mean, really weird.

I fell in love with the detail on the buildings. If you look at the original photo it looks less 'sketched'. But this is how it really looked to me through my eyes. Like a painting.

One of the things that I HATE about tourists is when they don't take notice of 'no photography' signs, particularly in churches. There were some amazing things that I saw that I would have desperately loved to record, but I refused to break the rules and contribute to the ruining of the atmosphere (not to mention the light damage). This was the one and only church window that I took a photo of, we were standing out on the street at Montmartre and the doors were open to the church. This beautiful window was just stunning, and I am amazed at how clearly the photo came out considering we were out in full sunlight.

I took so many photos at this church, it was so beautiful on the outside. This is of the roof over the entryway, just stunning!

Detail at the front door of Sacre Coeur. I just love this building, so amazing.

Place de la Concorde. I am STILL totally amazed about the obelisk. It is around 3300 years old. I can't even begin to concieve this amount of time. Like seriously! It was moved to France in the 1800s (from memory) from Egypt. When we were at the Louvre we saw photographs of the place where it came from, and where its twin is still situated. I can totally get buildings that are 900 years old. But this? Totally amazing. I know, it really isn't all that old in the grand scheme of things, but... I still find it amazing. I also love this shot. The combination of really old, semi old (the lamp-posts) and new (the wheel), it speaks to me.

And along the same lines of old meets new, this one from London. We were able to duck across to London for a couple of days to catch up with a school friend of Miks. Such a great trip! So glad we went, even if my back went out on day one and the planned shopping tour was somewhat ruined! Oh well, still lots of fun. Anyhoo, didn't get up in the London Eye, the queues were hideous and we decided to use our time to eat a nice meal and chat instead. But man that thing is huge!!!!

Hokay, will leave the pics here for today. Still SOOOO many to work on! I hope I don't bore you!

19 October 2007

Phew! I'm home! Actually, been home for a few days now, but been sick with a bug and only just surfacing today!

I had all good intentions whilst we were away of updating my blog each day, post my photos as I could, and share the experience as I went along. Grrr... seems that the French wi-fi services didn't agree with my plan!!!! For the first few days the hotel server was down, then I couldn't upload to my blog. After that I simply gave up! Just enjoyed my time with Mik and decided to forget it until we got home! But of course I now have too much to share! Where to start!?!?!?!

The show in France was once again totally fabulous! I loved it, loved seeing people again, loved being back at a scrapping event after such a long break. It seemed all so familiar, even though I was in a different county where I couldn't speak the language. I loved NOT being the new girl on the block and just being able to spend my time getting to know all of the other fabulous tutors, helpers and students. It was also fun to have Mik there, showing him what I do when I leave him for days at a time!

So, some highlights of the weekend? Seeing Sally M again! How weird that it would take a trip to France to see her in person! So much fun to have another Aussie there and recognise the accent! Kept my accent in check for those few days as well!!! I have a terrible habit of picking up both british and american accents pretty quickly which can get a little embarrassing!

What else... Meeting Ashley and Paul (totally gorgeous, and also vegetarian!), CD (would you believe it took until the LAST night for us to meet?!?!?! Crazy!), Anna (who is just hilarious!), Corinne (also hilarious, does that girl EVER stop!?!?), Mou (she is too funny!), and finally the delightful Margie! It was kinda different this year. Many more of us with partners there, and also being slightly out of town at Versailles, we tended to stick to ourselves a little more and did the sightseeing thing seperately. So didn't get to know the girls as well as I did last year, but still had so much fun regardless! Wishing we had more time to chat and share our stories, maybe I will finally get to the US sometime and will catch up with the girls again. I can hope, dream and plan can't I!?!?!?!

Other highlights of the weekend? My classes! Of course! So much fun to see everyone so happy to learn new things! I think everyone enjoyed my classes and I certainly had fun teaching! I hope that I didn't come across as being tired though! I think I did pretty well, until the last day when I hit a wall and felt AWFUL! I just had to apologise and get through the best I could! By the end of the day all was fine again, but that one class was a hard one!

I also got to do one class over the weekend with Ashley - totally loved it! Loved sitting and painting again, loved just playing for a change. I realised that I haven't just played with art supplies in so very long, rather using product only on my layouts. Missed playing, missed experimenting and missed getting my hands dirty. When I am settled here again I hope to get down and dirty once more, just like I once used to!

And I can't finish up this report without praising Celine and the rest of the girls on their wonderful work over the weekend. The event was so well organised, we were treated so wonderfully and everything was thought of for the whole weekend. I can't fault ANYTHING from the weekend and was so happy to be invovled in such a professional event! Big kisses to you all girls!

And did I get one photo from the event? Nope. Typical! I will use the excuse that Mik had the camera for the weekend, but the reality is that I wouldn't have used it even if I did have it! I am just HOPELESS! I did take 100s of photos elsewhere though, a few to share here, the rest to come over the coming days. I really need to get some housework done!! Coming home and then being sick has NOT been great for my house! Oops! So just a few random shots that I have already played with. Stories to go with some of them, will return later to fill you in!

This is a broken staircase at Marie Antoinette's little village (will tell more of this, such a beautiful place!)

The gorgeous windows you see everywhere in Versailles.

The front gates at the Palace at Versailles.

One of the water fountains at the Versailles gardens. I fell in love with the colours!

And finally a carousel at night, near the Eiffel Tower.

I really hope that you are all well, happy and enjoying the improving weather!

21 September 2007

First off - seems like I hit a chord with my clothing post! I have one thing to add today - cute tops at Best & Less. Pity they didn't have my size... but definitley cute! Will be hunting those down I tell you!

So, to the rant. Taxis. Yep, damn taxis. Brisbane has to have the WORST taxi service ever, or maybe its just the suburb I live in, they can't be bothered to come here. Or maybe my bookings just get lost in a big ole dark hole. Or MAYBE (and more likely) they have my named marked with 'crazy woman' and they just avoid me at all costs. Anyhoo, I can't tell you how many times I have been let down by the taxi service in this town. I have now lost count. There was the (first) time I missed a Drs appointment cause they never turned up (I waited an hour). The time that I sprained my ankles in the dark cause we had been waiting over an hour for the damn thing to arrive and the kids were going nuts. The multiple times that I have been late to pick up kids, meet people, or just get on with my day because they simply didn't turn up. And it sucks, cause I have to rely on them because I don't drive. And when the bus service doesn't suit my needs, then the taxi is my lifeline.

So, to today's story... remember a few weeks back I saw the nightmare Dr? Well, I decided to go to see the Dr that I knew would be good, but was damn hard to get into and is a couple hours away on the bus (cause of the weird route you have to take via the city). BUT I was determined to get a good Dr, and so I booked an appointment. Now, she is really hard to get into. REALLY HARD, so the appointment was really early in the morning. Not easy to get all kids ready, two to daycare and then get there by 8.40am, so taxi it was.

I preplanned. I KNEW that first thing in the morning I could end up waiting for a cab for ages and I would run the risk of being late. So I BOOKED!!! Yep, last night around 5pm I booked a cab for today. But did it work??? NO!!! The timeline went a little like this...

5pm Thursday - book taxi to arrive at 7.50am Friday morning, knowing I would be early, but allowing for the taxi to be a little late.
7.55am - call to confirm that taxi was dispatched and on its way - assurred that all was fine and would be there shortly.
8.10am - call to find out that first taxi lost (geez, buy a freaking directory!!!!) and another taxi is on its way.
8.28am - call to be told that I have been collected by the taxi. OH REALLY!?!?!?! Hmmm, and that would be why I am waiting by the side of the road, rather than at the Drs surgery like I should be by now.

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously. What IS IT about me that brings such evil bad luck vibes when it comes to cabs??? If this were the first time I would find it mildly amusing. But this has happened so many times it is ridiculous. And again, you become a very small voice when you call to complain and are told time and again that they are sorry. Does it fix the problem? Nope, they don't care. They lose your business? They have another few thousand passengers lined up to take that cab anyway.

So my day started EVER so beautifully, with many swear words and the promise of a coke first chance I could get. And did I see the Dr? Nope. Can't get another appointment until I get back from France. Humph. Will try again. See if I have any more luck THAT time. Lucky its not life threatening...

20 September 2007

Hmph. Went shopping for new clothes today. Two years ago that would have been my dream. As a svelt size 12, going out with a large wad of cash and the plan of creating a mulitude of outfits, with shoes and jewellery included. But instead, I came home almost empty handed and so terribly depressed.

Why is it that they only make cute clothes for skinny chicks? Why is it that fat chicks have to pick their way through rack after rack of ill-fitting, boring, and downright ugly clothes? Yep, you heard right. For those who haven't seen me in a while, I'm a fat chick again. Yep, all that hard work, hours at the gym, starving myself for weeks on end, has all gone to the dogs for a few (million) bars of self gratifying chocolate.

So here I am, a skinny chick in a fat chick's body, deperately wanting to wear SOMETHING that could be half consired cute, to go with the hair and the attitude. And what do I find? Rack after rack of sweet little tops in fresh colours, stunning fabrics, with gorgeous trims and even cuter pants to match. Long flowing dresses in beautiful spring colours, great funky tops with trims to die for. And ALL OF THEM in ridiculously small sizes. So then I go to the fat chicks' area and what do I find? Boring, boring, vomit, and a little more boring.

Let me describe just a few of the things I found today. There was the oversized, frumpy green top that came down almost to my knees and was more see-through than you can believe. Hmmm... that would look nice over bulges, NOT! There was the white muslin top that had those wonderful buttons closures that lets you peek into the person's top to see flesh - mmm, nice over bulges, NOT! Then of course there was rack after rack, after rack of tops in black, or some hideous colour that NO-ONE in their right mind would EVER wear unless they were five. Not only in such divine colours, but ALL in that ever so lovely t-shirt material that seems to cling to everything that moves. You know that stuff? Supposedly light and airy, but really a fat chicks nightmare. Ohhhh, don't let me forget the jeans!!! Do the designers not realise that skinny jeans are for SKINNY PEOPLE????? Why on earth would you make a pair of tight legged jeans in a size 24? I mean, really.

Can it be that hard to make large sized clothing that isn't boring, ugly or ill-fitting? Are the designers so lazy that they can't go that extra mile and create a line that makes a woman feel good about herself? Why don't we deserve the cute trims and stunning fabrics? Is it because they have to use more fabric, so they use the cheapest stuff they can find? Or are they simply telling us that if we just lost the weight, we could wear the cute clothes too? I hate to tell you, that psychology doesn't work, it is just depressing and makes you eat even MORE chocolate!

If we are a nation of overweight people (and I'm not advocating that, really I'm not, I know I should lose the weight and KEEP IT OFF!), but if we ARE this nation, why can't I go and buy SOMETHING that I feel good to wear and that will prompt someone else to say - hey, I love that top! Surely that is what womens' fashion is all about, making us feel good about ourselves and giving us the self confidence to do what ever we want to do with our lives.

I will confess that I didn't come home empty handed though. I did find SOME cute stuff. OK, so they were shoes, three pairs to be exact. But they were cute! And no designer can discriminate with foot size!

If you are a designer out there and just happen to stumble across this post for some bizarre reason, please take note. Fat chicks like to wear cute clothes too...